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Feb. 3, 2010 - Touring the Ho Chi Minh
trail in 1998, Wall Street trader Manny Santayana stumbled onto a
Vietnamese man who made a living out of extracting bombs from the
ground, grinding up the metal and selling it for profit. Sometime he
would stumble upon dog tags from U.S. soldiers, which he would collect
and store in an ammo bag under his bed.
"He
had 105 of them, and he just harbored them away, thinking perhaps that
they were worth something," Santayana recalled. "Well, that day they
were worth 100 bucks."
Unsure if they were real, Santayana called the Pentagon after
returning to home to New York. Defense officials requested the
information from the identification tags, which Santayana quickly
sent. "The Pentagon analyzed them and they indicated that all of them
were totally legitimate," he said.
Over the years,
Manny was able to return some dog tags to their rightful owners, but leads were exhausted. A few months ago
Tony Halas, Chairman of the POW/MIA Awareness Committee
(NJ-Gloucester/Camden County), was notified about the project by
Senator James Beach and asked if he'd be interested in helping find
the veteran s that these dog tags belonged to. Senator Beach received the dog tags from Manny last
week and is in the process of setting up a Committee. However, in the
meantime, while the details were being sorted out, one member
of the POW/MIA AGC Committee, decided to get a head start on the
research.
For no specific reason, the first dog tag
the she decided |
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When asked if the
Nam Knights would be interested in helping to return dog tags to
their rightful Vietnam veterans, Delaware Valley Chapter Nam
Knights of America President Ed "Chief" Parsons did not hesitate
- of course they would - it would be an honor. While the first
dog tag identified is not being returned to an area that the Nam
Knights cover, they will be participating in future returns up
and down the East Coast. Sue Quinn-Morris, POW/MIA Awareness
Committee (GCnj), has 2 batches of dog tags and is
currently working on the identifying some originating from men
in the home states of CT, NY and NJ, which the Nam Knights will
participate in. |
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to hone in on was the last name on the list - H.C.
Yarber Jr, USMC, O, 2227178, Church of Christ - with only that
information to go on, diligent research began and the story began to
unfold.
H.C.
Ya rber Jr. is known to his family as Henry Clay Yarber, Jr. - he went
by "Clay". Cpl Clay Yarber enlisted in the Marines in 1966 and served
in Vietnam until 1970 - RVN, DMZ, Co. B, 3d Force Recon, 3d Marine
Division. He served 2 tours of duty with Marine Special Forces Recon
and is a Purple Heart recipient.
On February 12th last year - 2009 - Clay
boarded Continental Flight 3407 headed for Buffalo, NY. Clay hated to
fly ever since a helicopter accident in Vietnam. Yet on this day he
was propelled by the one emotion more powerful than his fear of
flying: Love. Yarber, 62, a strapping man who went from performing
reconnaissance missions for the Marines to playing guitar onstage with
bands, was on his way to see his girlfriend, Lonnie Vater, for
Valentines Day. He was going to move there permanently the following
month. The
couple talked about marriage.
But a few miles short of Buffalo, the plane suddenly pitched forward
and crashed, killing everyone on board and one person on the ground.
Yarber began playing in public at age 14. He played with Bob Seger
before Seger achieved fame, his family said, as well as backing such
artists as Ike and Tina Turner and Ben E. King. Yarber moved from his
native Dayton, Ohio to Florida
about 30 years ago – after Vietnam. He rocked crowds in bars and
auditoriums across Ohio, Florida and other states, playing rhythm
guitar in several bands through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, including
Power Play and Taxi. The music ranged from Top 40 to funk and rhythm
and blues. His daughter, Pam
Jones, said her father suffered from various physical and
emotional ailments because of the war, and was disabled. She said he
wrestled with post traumatic stress disorder for the rest of his life.
“He used to have the night terrors,” Jones said. “ I would hear him
punching his headboard when he was in bed at night.”
His brother, Tim Bishop, recalls,” We called him “junior”, he never
really liked it, he was a 6ft 4in man that would have your back
whether you were family, friend, or anyone in need. If you were his
friend, you were fortunate; if he was your foe, he was your worst
nightmare. There are many that knew him as the “gentle
giant” and a “big kid at heart”.
In 2008, Clay drove from Florida to Riverside, CA to live
with his son Chris Yarber. His health was deteriorating. A couple of
months into his stay, recognizing that his fathers health was not good, Chris
asked him to say a few words on video. On it, Clay Yarber tells his
son not to lie or cheat and to treat others like you want them to
treat you. “Don’t say someone’s just a bum, because you don’t know where they’ve
been.” Then staring straight into the camera, he tells his son: “I’m proud of
you…now turn that damn thing off.”
On Thursday, February 4th, 2010 - 8 days
before the 1st anniversary of Clay Yarber's unfortunate death in that
fiery plane crash in New York - Sue Quinn-Morris (POW MIA AGC
Committee) made contact with Clays brother, Tim Bishop, who resides in
Ft Worth, TX. After an emotional conversation, Tim was able to confirm
his brothers service number and plans are now being put in place to
get Clay's dog tag to his brother.
"I am so thankful you found me." Tim
exclaimed," When I receive his dog tag I am going to include it with
his Marine Jacket and Medals I have."
The irony of finding Clays brother days
before the anniversary of Clays death .... A Coincidence ... A
message from Clay to his brother... .. Devine intervention...
"Call it what you will," remarked Sue
Quinn-Morris,"
but it sends chills up my spine and confirms my belief in a higher
power. Come hell or high water I can assure you that Tim will be
holding his brothers dog tag in his hand come Friday, Feb. 12th, 2010.
"
 ....DOG
TAG DELIVERED.....
Feb. 12, 2010 -
While hell and high water didn’t come, the snow did. But what is meant
to be, will be.
Scrambling to beat
the snowstorm in NJ, Yarber's dog tag was sent out just hours before
the snow arrived on Tuesday. Arriving in Texas, John Collins, a
Warriors Watch Rider, received it safe and sound – but called with the
news that a major storm was due to hit in Texas. It had been
planned that an active duty Marine would
 present
the dog tag alongside representatives of the 3d Marine Assoc,
the Warriors Watch Riders and American Legion Riders - however mother
nature was about to cast her spell. And that she did – unprecedented
snowfall amounts in Ft Worth Texas began Thursday and continued into
Friday morning. While the motorcycles were certainly out, it was iffy
if any cars could safely make the trip – especially as the closest
person to Tim Bishop was nearly an hour away, under good conditions.
 However,
with the importance of the date – John Collins bundled up and headed
out to weather mother natures forces – and while the presentation was
minus all its original members, one is left to venture it turned out
exactly how Clay Yarber intended. (CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)
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